The response from the government was one page, thank you very much, very nice report, good luck, and oh, by the way, there's a $55 million reduction in the cost-cutting that happened before Christmas.
We'd like to remind the minister that there was a very comprehensive report and detailed study of the summer career placement program, which is a very important program across this country. It was done by this committee. There was unanimous agreement that we should push it forward.
There was no expectation at that time that there would be a reduction in the budget. As a matter of fact, some of us were hoping that there might be an increase, particularly if the ministry was going to respond to the recommendations that we made to be cognizant of some of the challenges in economically depressed areas in the country.
I would like the new minister, who frankly in my interactions so far has expressed an openness to listen and be more generous, in terms of some of these kinds of initiatives, to have an opportunity to take a look at that report, and make sure that he saw it and was briefed on it. Then perhaps he could respond to us.
I think we need to do this as quickly as possible. As we speak, I'm sure that they're making decisions about how the program is going to roll out, and about exactly how much money will be in it and to what parts of the country it will go.